Tetris

Polygon published a lengthy feature today all about the Game Boy. It looks into how Nintendo planned for the system’s release in North America, including comments from former marketing manager Don Coyner. There’s also insight into how Tetris became the pack-in game and bringing Pokemon west.

Empire has a few extra tidbits about the new Tetris movie. It’ll be the first film in what is a planned trilogy, as was previously rumored.

Larry Kasanoff, who’s working to bring Tetris to theaters, spoke about the decision to create three movies with Empire. He stated that it was needed “purely because the story we conceived is so big. This isn’t us splitting the last one of our eight movies in two to wring blood out of the stone. It’s just a big story.”

Kasanoff also said:

“We want the story to be a surprise, but it’s a big science-fiction movie. I came up with the idea as I was thinking about Tetris and the theme of creating order out of chaos.

We’re not going to have blocks with feet running around the movie, but it’s great that people think so. It sets the bar rather low!

I guarantee you it’s not what you think. No-one has come remotely close to figuring out what we’re doing.”

Casting for the Tetris movie is “well underway”. Some shooting will take place in China.

According to Deadline, a film based on Tetris will begin filming in China and other locations next year. A Chinese and western cast mix will also be featured in the production.

Plans are in place to have the movie kick off a trilogy. Interestingly, Deadline describes it as “a sci-fi thriller.” Co-producer Larry Kasanoff also mentioned that it’s “not at all what you think; it will be a cool surprise.”

The Tetris movie will have a budget of $80 million. It will be the first effort from Threshold Global Studios, a new banner created by Kasanoff and Bruno Wu, who will also act as a producer.

We found out in late November that a pair of Tetris games were scheduled to be removed from the European 3DS eShop at the end of 2014. As soon as January 1 rolled on in, Nintendo pulled the Game Boy version of Tetris as well as Tetris Axis from the digital store.

It’s now clear that the removal of these two titles wasn’t just limited to Europe. Tetris for Game Boy as well as Tetris Axis are nowhere to be seen on the North American 3DS eShop. There was no prior warning for those living in the states, sadly!

Nintendo is pulling two Tetris games from the European 3DS eShop at the very end of this year. You have until December 31 to purchase the 3DS retail game Tetris as well as the classic Virtual Console release.

It’s unclear why the Tetris titles are being removed at this time. As far as we know, there are no similar plans for North America.